Waffen SS were considered war heroes.
Executive summary
The Waffen-SS were not widely or legitimately considered "war heroes" in any neutral or legal sense: they were the armed combat branch of the Nazi SS that fought alongside the Wehrmacht but were deeply implicated in mass atrocities and declared a criminal organisation after the war [1] [2]. Postwar narratives and veteran lobbying sought to recast parts of the Waffen-SS as soldierly and valorous, but those efforts are revisionist and conflicted with court findings, scholarly consensus, and substantial documentary evidence of war crimes [3] HIAG" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[4].
1. The dual identity: elite combat troops and political para-military force
At formation the Waffen-SS combined a self-styled elite military role with the SS’s political mission, creating units that saw frontline service and were simultaneously instruments of Nazi racial and security policy; this dual character produced units that could be militarily proficient while remaining politically criminal [5] [2].
2. Battlefield performance does not erase culpability
Military histories acknowledge that Waffen-SS divisions fought in major campaigns and in some cases displayed tactical effectiveness, but battlefield performance is distinct from moral or legal status, and many Waffen-SS units also participated in anti-partisan operations and atrocities against civilians on the Eastern Front and elsewhere [6] [2].
3. International and legal condemnation: criminal organisation and war crimes
At Nuremberg the SS, including affiliated formations, was judged a criminal organisation because of its central role in the Holocaust and wide-ranging crimes—this legal designation undercuts any blanket claim of heroic status and places responsibility for criminality at organisational level [1].
4. Postwar rehabilitation campaigns and political agendas
Veteran groups such as HIAG mounted concerted lobbying and publishing campaigns to recast the Waffen-SS as soldiers like any other and to minimize or deny wartime atrocities; historians note HIAG’s denialist aims and its role in creating a myth of a “clean” Waffen-SS that served political and social goals in postwar West Germany [4] [3].
5. Why some communities embraced the “hero” story—and why it matters
For some veterans, families, and nationalist circles the Waffen-SS narrative offered social mobility, identity, and an appealing image of martial sacrifice, and a small number of former members used memoirs and political influence to promote a heroic image; these motivations reflect implicit agendas—rehabilitation, pensions, and nationalist memory politics—rather than a dispassionate accounting of facts [7] [8].
6. Verdict and nuance: direct answer
The plain conclusion is that the Waffen-SS were not legitimately regarded as war heroes in the broader moral, legal, and historical record: courts and major scholarly and memorial authorities treat the organisation as criminal because of extensive involvement in mass murder and other crimes [1] [2]; while isolated accounts and postwar advocacy tried to spotlight battlefield bravery or sanitize conduct, those efforts are well-documented revisionism with clear political motives [3] [4].